


Quarantine!

by lauraloo77



Category: Limitless (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcoholism mention tw, Boys Kissing, Brian is a little shit, Character Study, Coming Out, Confined Space, First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Secret Crush, Slash, Slight Flashbacks, Slow Build, Truth or Dare, it takes a while to get to the Brian/Ike, lockdown - Freeform, mostly Brian/Ike, murder mention tw, not based on Close Encounters (which was a quarantine episode), pain at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:46:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6494212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauraloo77/pseuds/lauraloo77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a toxic object gets sent to the CJC, the building goes into lockdown mode. Brian and co. must find a place to wait out the chaos, and what they choose to do in those hours will never be forgotten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quarantine!

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: this is my first official fanfic posted on the site. Please forgive me if it's not up to par; it was based on a dream I had. I normally see things in episodic formats, so it was difficult for me to make it in fanfic style. Enjoy and please leave me any feedback at all!
> 
> Also, it doesn't really matter when this takes place, so long as the events of Sands, Agent of Morra (episode 16) didn't actually happen (i.e. Ike hooking up with Rachel. Nope - didn't happen).

Everything stopped. Brian froze everything out and focused on one spot in the room. People were running in all directions, but Brian saw them in very slow motion. Brian normally does this while on NZT, but for once he wasn't on it and still felt its power. The last time Brian had seen so many people running in such a panic was after an Artificial Brain concert went south and the mosh pit stampeded out of the venue. A package was sent to the CJC and came back from the scanner as a "potential toxic object". The entire building had to be put on lockdown, the scanning room was quarantined and so were anyone who came into contact with the package.

Apparently the last time this FBI building had to issue a lockdown of this magnitude was 40 years ago, so clearly they were out of practice. Brian wondered why they never had lockdown drills. He then flashbacked to his youth, and him pulling the fire alarm on many occasions. Brian was no stranger to the false alarms. But this time, it was real. Or so they thought.

Brian came back from his flashback to finally seeing things in proper speeds and light. All of the spots underneath the desks for people to hide were filling up. Rebecca found him, followed by Boyle, and then Mike and Ike showed up, and they weren't even supposed to work that day but Brian wanted their help sorting out the files of [insert boring case here].

"Hey guys, we should stick together", Brian said. They all nodded to each other. Mike and Ike did not look very pleased to be in this situation.

They started to check for places they would be willing to hide for any number of hours. That pretty much narrowed it down to rooms. They too were filling up, so they had to keep checking. Brian was really not in the mood to go room-hunting, and neither was anyone else for that matter. And they couldn't use the elevators to check other floors so they were stuck. That was when Brian noticed Naz from across the hall. He narrowed his focus once more on the woman. She was busy talking to people in Hazmat suits, looking very busy at that moment.

"Hey, you guys think Naz will be busy the whole day?", Brian asked the group.

"Not sure, why?", Rebecca answered.

Brian looked at Naz, and then looked far across the room at her now empty, available office. If Naz was going to be away from the office the whole day, Brian figured out a place they could say.

"Come with me.", he instructed. They walked towards Naz's office and the rest of them knew where this could be going. They all had a bad feeling about this.

"Are you seriously thinking about cooping up inside of our boss's office during this time?", Boyle shouted just loud enough for them all to know he was angry, but not enough for Naz to hear from around the corner.

"...Maybe. Look, I don't see anywhere else to hide, okay?", Brian thought he had the perfect plan. Then he realized something important that could be a problem for him later.

"Do...you know the code to her office?", Boyle's eyes widened. Ike smirked while Mike rolled his eyes. Rebecca knew the answer to this but couldn't say anything.

"If I says yes, can we go inside and can I tell you how I know some other time?" Brian smiled like a kid who _knew_ he was in trouble but was trying to get out of it. Boyle grunted and nodded. Brian tried the same code he used to steal her NZT files that one time, and sure enough, it worked. Maybe the SAC could use some better security in her own office.

\--

\--

They all went inside and Brian smiled like the first time he was inside of Naz's house. 

"I will bet any of you $100 that Naz has alcohol hidden somewhere in this place." Brian regretted that the moment he said it, and based on Boyle's expressions he did too. To Brian's surprise, however, both Rebecca and Mike were interested in this bet. 

Brian opened up her drawers one by one, and sure enough, there were three bottles of wine stashed underneath a load of paperwork. They all had post-it notes saying who they were for - presumably Naz had to give gifts for work colleagues and she needed a place to store them. That didn't matter to Brian, who looked like a kid opening birthday presents.

"YES! Today's my lucky day. I scored 200 dollars and now I get to have some fancy wine with some friends. God, I really love being me sometimes.", Brian exclaimed. Everyone looked at him, judgingly. "Well, you know, minus the whole threat of toxic death thing we've got going on." Brian couldn't even concentrate on that. All he could think about was how Toxic Death would be a great band name.

"I really don't think we should-"

"Come on, we **have** to! I'll reimburse her for the wine...assuming we don't die today. You know, it's a possibility." Brian interrupted Boyle with an interesting proposition.

It took him a while, but Boyle came around. "All right, I'm in."

"Dope!" 

Just when Mike was about to ask Brian if Naz had hidden a screwdriver in her office too, Brian pulled out his keychain, which had what looked like a small, useless metal object, which just so happened to double as a screwdriver. Brian gave Mike a sly look, as if he knew that Mike was going to ask. 

"I guess none of us mind if we share. Please try not to have _too_ much backwash?" It didn't seem like that rude of a request. It was fancy wine, after all, the likes of which Brian had never really had unless he was at Sands's ominous bar.

They all had enough of quickly creeping through Naz's files, so they decided it was time to situate themselves on the floor. They sat in a circle of sorts. From left to right, clockwise: Brian, Rebecca, Boyle in the corner, Mike, and Ike. Mike and Ike were leaning on the cupboard behind them, and Brian found a really short stool to awkwardly sit on. He knew he would regret this decision if they had to wait in there for more than 30 minutes or so, but he looked ridiculous and Ike laughed that cute laugh that he always does, so Brian sat there for as long as he physically could.

There was quite the long awkward silence to follow. Rebecca checked her watch more than a few times, Boyle was in permanent eye-rolling mode, and Mike and Ike were quietly whispering about whatever funny stories they could think of at the time. Brian not being on NZT found this to be particularly dull. He decided to break the silence - in a BIG way.

".......So. Who's up for a game of truth or dare?"

For a room with only four people inside, they were pretty loud when they talked over each other. Brian could barely make out what they saying. He made some fun guesses though. The reality of what happened looked like:

1\. Boyle was completely against it.  
2\. Rebecca thought it could be fun, but it could get awkward very fast.  
3\. Mike really wasn't sure, seeing as it had been a **long** time since he last played this game.  
4\. Ike really just wanted to get to know his friends more, so he was totally on board.

"ENOUGH!", Brian finally shouted, after letting that happen for about three entire minutes. "One at a time, please."

"I mean, what else are we going to do?", Rebecca said.

"I'm for it, I guess.", Mike hesitated. 

"Yeah! Let's do it." Ike didn't want to sound too excited, but he kind of blew it.

"...Fine. Whatever. Let's go over some ground rules first, please." Boyle gave in. Brian was so pleased to hear this.

"YES! Okay. All dares obviously have to be limited to this room. And personally, I believe that if there are any truths you are unwilling to answer, you shouldn't be playing the game." Brian was serious about his truth or dare gameplay.

"Well, that's not really fair to Mike and Ike. They weren't even supposed to be here today.", Rebecca pleaded.

"Hey, I'm not backing down from a challenge! I already owe the man $100 bucks, he might as well learn some new things about me too.", Mike answered.

"And I don't really have much to hide, so." Ike was prepared to be an open book. He found his life to be quite boring, but Brian was interested in learning anything new about these guys.

"That settles that then. Okay, who's going first?"

"I will.", Boyle said, confidently. Brian liked where this day was going.

\--

\--

An hour already went by since they first entered lockdown. No one was keeping track of the time, though, because things were about to get interesting.

"Okay, smart guy. Brian - truth or dare?"

"Dare! Who dares win, am I right?" The group feared this would not be the first time Brian would be making that joke.

"I dare you to recite the alphabet backwards." Boyle thought that since Brian was not on NZT that this task would prove to be difficult for him, and that it would shoot his ego down a bit. 

"Challenge accepted." Brian started.

"A...No, I'm just kidding, I heard you! Z...", Brian hesitated for a moment.

"YXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDBA. Easy." Boyle was in shock. He timed it too, and without that hesitation it took about seven seconds for him. This backfired, but Boyle knew he would have plenty more opportunities to bruise that boy's ego today.

"Now it's my turn. Hmmm...Ike, truth or dare?" Ike was so nervous. He had been harbouring a crush on Brian since he first met the man. He was always willing to go along with his crazy requests because he genuinely liked being around him. He was hoping today would be an opportunity to tell him how he really felt, but not around all these people. Oh well, maybe he could learn a few things about his crush.

"Um, truth I guess."

"Okay...who was your first kiss with and describe the scene of it." Brian imagined it be would be when Ike was at least in high school, with some girl he was pining for for weeks, and then he planted one on her after careful consideration. After thinking about it, he wasn't sure why his mind immediately jumped to this conclusion, but it did, so he went with it. Unfortunately for Ike, this was a story he really didn't want to be sharing with any of them any time soon, and they would know why just because of the pronoun.

"Uh, okay. Well...it was when I was 12."

 _Good so far. Younger than I was thinking._ Brian thought.

"I was at their house and we were playing a video game. I don't remember which one because I...was so focused on them." Ike chuckled. He was using ambiguous pronouns for a reason, and he was hoping to reveal it at the end of the story for maximum effect.

"We had just defeated this major boss. It was so hard, we spent like an hour trying to beat it. And then when the end/pause screen showed up I kissed **him**. And then his mom walked in. And I was never allowed over at Samuel Baker's house again. Haha."

The entire room went dead silent. All eyes were fixated on Ike. Their emotions were all in line with one another. They all looked slightly confused, followed by immediate faces as if they were saying, "Ohhhhhhh." to themselves in their heads because this somehow made sense to them. Brian in particular was intrigued by this story. Little did Ike know Brian's first kiss went sort of the same way, but he wasn't about to divulge this information - they had to earn it. Ike looked a bit mortified. He had a slight flashback of that time with Samuel. God, his jet black hair and piercing blue eyes were to die for. He imagined that Samuel is probably a model now. Maybe if he can survive the day he would call him again. He then wanted to clear the air before anyone could ask the obvious question they were wondering right now.

"So yeah, I'm gay. And that's the day I really knew." 

"Great story, Ike. Really. And thank you for trusting us with this secret. It couldn't have been easy to hold for this long." Brian was being genuine. Ike was happy to hear this. He really did feel like he was keeping it in for quite some time. He wasn't even sure to this day if his mom ever _really_ knew. She was an alcoholic, and that day where Samuel's mother called her she was hazy and he assumed she forgot. From what he knew about his dad, which wasn't very much considering he was arrested for serial murder on Ike's second birthday, he would probably kill him for it. Just like Samuel's family. They were of the belief that your orientation is a choice and that being gay, bisexual, whatever - is a sin. Which had always seemed ironic to Ike because Samuel once told him he saw his dad sleeping with another man. Rebecca and Boyle shot him a smile, and Mike put his hand on his shoulder.

Ike whispered, "Thanks guys. Okay, I guess it's my turn to ask now. Rebecca - truth or dare?"

"I'll go for a dare."

_Nice. This could be good._

"I dare you to..." Ike wanted her to kiss someone in the room, because that would be really fun for everyone. He didn't want it to be him for obvious reasons, he thought it would be weird if it was Boyle because they are partners and have worked together for so long, and Mike seemed out of it, like he just wanted it to be his turn already. So that leaves one person.

"...kiss Brian." Only after a few seconds did Ike realize what he had just done. He just asked the guy he has a crush on to share a kiss with the girl he was under the impression he's in love with. Oh god, he figured they wouldn't allow a take-back. He had to pray for a miracle.

\--

\--

"Uh..." Brian and Rebecca both thought about this in their heads.

_The scene was set. The spotlights were on them. Rebecca has wondered what it would be like if they kissed for quite some time. It's not like she actually liked him like that or anything, but she was always just curious. She slowly went towards him, and he towards her. They collided and their noses hit each other in the wrong way and both of them were hurt. They cancelled the dare._

_Brian took one look at Rebecca and saw his sister. He thought maybe he was hallucinating, so he kept leaning in. It got weirder and weirder for him until eventually he screamed, "NOPE! Not happening. Rebecca is like a sister to me, it would be too weird." Rebecca had to reluctantly agree. So Rebecca just kissed Brian on the cheek._

One of these two stories actually happened. Based on the sad look on Rebecca's face moments later, it's clear to see which one it was. Ike looked underwhelmed, Boyle was bored, and Mike was feeling like Boyle in that moment.

"My turn. Okay...Brian. Truth or dare?" She was hoping to get back at Ike, so he better pick dare.

She didn't have to worry about that. Brian screamed, "DARE! Wait - I got it - I simply aDARE this game." Brian was the only one laughing.

"I dare _you_ to kiss _Ike_." Was Rebecca slightly bitter? Yeah, probably. But she wanted to know if there was anyone in the room Brian would properly kiss.

"Fine." Brian went over to Ike and kissed him on the cheek, mockingly. Ike grinned. If he died and that was the most action he'd had gotten from his crush, he'd be okay. 

"Satisfied? I studied from you." Brian glared at Rebecca. 

Rebecca was annoyed. "Not really, no." 

Even Mike joined in, by demanding that they do 'the real thing'. They started talking over one another while Brian glanced at Ike, who almost looked like he was going to puke from nervousness, but Brian had no idea why. 

"UGH, you really want me to kiss him? Alright, fine!" And then it happened.

Brian went back over to Ike, faster this time, and pulled him by his suit jacket at first, but then switched to holding his face. Ike had no idea where to put his hands, so he just left them at his sides. It was a firm kiss that Brian intended to keep for at least 30 seconds, just to stick it to Rebecca. Ike, meanwhile, was in heaven. Time was stopping for him; the room was spinning. He couldn't believe how lucky he was. He had never dreamed about this moment, but it certainly would not have gone down quite this way if he had planned on it. Brian too froze time, he was enjoying it more than he was letting on. Mike was smirking too, as was Boyle. Rebecca had this look of confusion. It was really going on for quite a while. Too long to just be a ploy to rub it in her face, he must actually be loving it.

After what seemed like forever, Brian pulled away. Ike had to make sure he was somewhat composed, so he settled for looking very stern. Brian could get away with smiling brightly, and saying, "Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Ike was so surprised and so happy, he truly felt like he was on a roller coaster that was going straight up until it plummeted down for several minutes.

And then Brian said something that everyone expected him to say, but not quite in this moment.

"Oh, I'm bisexual, by the way. My friends in high school used to call it my "brisexuality"." Boyle nodded subtly, Ike turned to look at him and their eyes met. He felt that this was the first moment that the two of them really connected. Rebecca had to get used to the fact that Brian was like a sibling to him, a sibling that just kissed some other man and admitted that he had done that in the past. Mike raised the wine bottle and said, "Here, here!" Did this mean he too was bisexual? Or was he getting a buzz from the wine? Well, it was Brian's turn to ask someone again, so he might be able to find out.

\--

\--

"Okay. Who still hasn't gone..." Brian pointed at everyone in the room until his finger landed on Mike.

"...Mike! Aha! Truth or dare, my friend."

"I'll go truth." Mike was mentally preparing himself for what Brian could possibly ask.

"Okay, Mike, tell us four things we would be surprised to know about you, and for each one use a different accent." Brian was pleased with himself. He did wish he was on NZT - he imagined the kinds of questions he could come up with in this game. The possibilities...they would be _limitless_. 

Mike laughed. "Alright."

1\. British accent.

"Well, I have three brothers, so I grew up in a house dominated by men. But my mom was the rock of our family. Don’t get me wrong, she was one badass lady. But she had to be the nurturing type too in order to keep us all in line."  


Boyle gained a lot more respect for Mike with this revelation.

2\. Jamaican accent, which he felt bad about the minute he started doing it. 

"My father was a cop, and from a young age he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He would take me to the gun ranges for hours upon hours. I got so good at shooting targets that apparently I kept asking if I can make some money by shooting the bullseye every time. He told me to train to become a cop like him, and it’ll essentially be the right job for me."  


Rebecca reflected on how she too almost followed in her father's footsteps and became an artist. Nope, she took a different path, and for very powerful reasons.

3\. Irish accent, that sounded an awful lot like his British one. Brian couldn't blame him, though.

”Two of my brothers are already married with kids. I have so many nieces and nephews now. I’m starting to feel the pressure to get married myself. And I’m pretty good with kids. I don’t know how many of them I’d want though."  


Brian smiled all throughout this one. One of his brothers was married with kids already too, so he knew exactly how Mike felt.

4\. Honestly, the group had no idea what he was going for here. He ran out of accents and was sort of yelling like a woman from the south, it seemed.

”This job is growing on me." The room went silent for the first time in what felt like hours. Brian broke the silence.

"Awww, Mike! Either you're really drunk or I've made a great impression on you."

"I blame the alcohol...partially." Brian grinned from ear to ear.

"Go on.", Brian ushered to Mike.

"Well...this job seemed like a backstop for me at first, for something bigger at the CJC. You know, I've been doing great work my whole life and I've avoided slipping up until now. I really thought I'd want out of this job the second a 'real' opportunity came up. But-"

Mike grabbed one of the bottles that still had wine left in it and took a huge gulp. The group was fixated on Mike at this point.

"I really like you guys. I didn't think I would be attached to this job, or that I would want to. Now I don't wanna leave. This is the most fun I have had in my whole life, and I've been to _DisneyWorld._ "

Brian and Ike chuckled. 

"It's totally because of me, right? I mean, who can resist this adorable face?" Ike certainly couldn't. Boyle, once more, rolled his eyes, but this time in a more playful way.

"Actually, most of it is because of this guy right over here." Mike patted Ike on the back a few times. Ike jolted as if Mike woke him up from a sleep.

"Thanks bud, it has been very fun working with you." Ike was happy again.

The truth or dares continued a bit more, with Rebecca revealing embarrassing and sad things from her childhood, Boyle talking about his favourite subjects in school, and how his mom is doing. A few more hours passed and the wine was all finished.

\--

\--

There were several knocks on Naz's office door. Brian gulped and feared for the future. It was just a random agent he had never seen before, who just happened to know Naz’s office code. Did she give it out to people? 

"Agent Harris, didn't you get my text? The quarantine has been lifted, the package was completely harmless and was disguised to look as threatening to set off the scanner's alarms.” The agent scanned the room and looked kind of disgusted. Open wine bottles with inebriated agents during a lockdown, this wasn’t going to end well if Naz found out. 

Rebecca mumbled and took out her phone. "W-we're not supposed to use our phones during lockdowns unless it's absolutely vital." The man shrugged and left. 

Everyone got up from the floor, slowly. They definitely drank too much of Naz's fancy wine. They definitely divulged too many of the secrets they once thought were never to be told to anyone, especially these people. They definitely did things they would wonder about a lot in the days to come. 

Brian thought he was in the clear, but no, Naz was waiting for him around the corner. The other four slid by her and left Brian on his own. 

"Really? My office?"

"I'm sorry, Naz! There was nowhere else to go. You guys have a lot more people working here than I thought. Especially on this floor."

"We could've accompanied you to another floor.” Brian really had no idea this was even a possibility.

"...I- I'm so sorry. How much were those bottles of wine? I believe they were called, and forgive me if I butcher the name because I'm not on NZT, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue Musigny Blanc Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France." Brian completely and utterly butchered the pronunciation of the name.

"You. drank. my. wine. bottles. Are you serious right now?"

"Yes ma'am?" Brian was worried. He had a feeling they weren't going to be the sum of $200 he won from Rebecca and Mike.

"Those were $1,130 a bottle! Did you happen to see those names I had written under each bottle?"

Brian gulped loudly and slowly nodded.

"The director, an agent who has just retired after 57 years, and my mother - who I haven't seen in quite some time and resents me greatly for."

"I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't. Don't worry about paying for them, I'll figure out another way you can pay me back."

"'Kay. Sorry again. But aren't you glad we're still alive?" Brian held out his arms for a hug, but Naz just walked in the opposite direction. Brian continued on his way and passed by the group. Ike was at his desk, picking up some stuff. Brian invited Rebecca over for a movie - Tuesday was their movie night. Brian invited the rest, but everyone else just wanted to go home. Brian did have one last thing to say to Ike before he left.

"Hey buddy, I'm glad you're okay. You know, we survived, we pulled through, and what not."

"Yeah. I'm glad you're okay too."

"I'm sorry about the, you know-"

"Please. Don't be. I-" Ike was really hoping to tell Brian right then and there about how he feels about him, but he was interrupted by Brian.

"Okay, great. I hope this doesn't make anything weird between us. You know, friends, dudes, bros, and whatever."

Ike's heart was breaking piece by piece. The only sound he could muster before his voice would break too much and blow everything was a strained, "Yeah."

"Cool. Alright Ike, see you some other time. I'll try not to call you next time for some paperwork." Brian laughed, not knowing that this exact circumstance gave Ike exactly everything he was hoping for. He just wished it ended differently. Brian and Rebecca walked towards the elevators, and once they got inside, Ike looked up towards them. He thought about everything that happened today, considered himself lucky, but still felt like crap. He looked down at his phone and let one single tear fly down his face before quickly wiping it. Before leaving, he had an ominous thought.

_Hey, I'm still alive. But at what cost._


End file.
